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Sprint Cup
SPENCER: Now Is The Time
Richard Childress Racing and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing have both endured tough seasons...
Team owner Richard Childress denies being approached by Dodge. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Anybody see any headless horsemen when you were out trick-or-treating?
In keeping with the Halloween theme this week, I’d like to point out a few heads probably need to roll in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage after the horrible season their teams have had.
Case in point – Richard Childress Racing and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.
Neither team has done much of anything this season. Yes, RCR driver Kevin Harvick made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, but qualifying for it and actually being competitive are two entirely different things. Harvick currently is 11th in points with four top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in 33 starts this year. His teammates, Jeff Burton and Paul Menard, are 19th and 16th in points, respectively. Burton has two top-five and six top-10 finishes while Menard has one top-five and eight top-10 finishes.
Last season was much kinder to the RCR camp with Harvick third in the points with four wins and seeded second when the Chase began. Menard posted one win, four top-five and eight top 10s alongside Burton’s two top-five and five top-10 finishes.
Down the road at Ganassi’s camp, Jamie McMurray currently sits 20th with no top fives and only three top-10 finishes this year, while his counterpart, Juan Pablo Montoya, is 22nd with another goose egg in the top-five column and a mere two top-10 finishes. That record is unbelievable in light of the fact McMurray in 2010 won the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400 and the October race at Charlotte, tied Kasey Kahne for the series lead in poles with four and finished 14th in points.
Keep in mind RCR and EGR share an engine program by virtue of Earnhardt Childress Racing Engines. Their engines may be pretty good, but their collective results are anything but.
How in the world can a team be that strong one year and fall flat on its face the next? In 2011, McMurray earned only two top-five and four top-10 finishes, and completed the season 27th in points. Montoya didn’t fare much better with two top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 2011, on the heels of one win, three pole positions, six top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in 2010. He finished that year 17th in points. The only time Montoya has managed to garner headlines this year was when he hit the jet dryer in the Daytona 500.
This season marks EGR’s worst in years, and I simply am amazed they haven’t restructured and shuffled people around this year. Chip Ganassi let longtime executives Steve Hmiel and Tony Glover go at the conclusion of the 2011 season, but that move hasn’t paid off on the track in 2012, and their replacement hasn’t eliminated the organization’s problems. The word on the street is that Ganassi is taking his team’s engine program from ECR Engines and moving it over to Hendrick Motorsports for the 2013 season, and possibly getting his cars from Hendrick as well.
Regardless of what Ganassi pays Hendrick to do next year, I’m shocked he hasn’t made more wholesale changes within his management team this year. I’m probably more shocked that Childress hasn’t turned his shop upside down to pinpoint the problem and move people in and out. When other owners such as Rick Hendrick, Jack Roush and Roger Penske endure such horrible seasons, they’re quick to react and correct those issues. RCR a couple of weeks ago announced they’ve hired Dr. Eric Warren as the new director of competition for their organization, but it was a long time coming. Scott Miller vacated that position late last year to go to Michael Waltrip Racing, but if I was Childress, I would have moved heaven and earth to retain Miller. Look at the turnaround he’s helped produce at MWR. It’s nothing short of amazing, and the downswing in RCR’s performance this season is equally surprising.
Childress has built a hell of an organization with a lot of great people, but sometimes as a business owner, you have to give a little more to keep certain employees. Miller was one of them. Maybe RCR is over-engineering their cars (think back to their two enormous penalties – one for Clint Bowyer’s car in the Chase-opening Loudon race in 2010 and again this past August with the No. 27 car) and should instead look at completely restructuring their organization. The results prove as much.
I want to see RCR and EGR succeed because their success is good for our sport. UPS left NASCAR because they didn’t enjoy the success they expected. I don’t want to see Target, Caterpillar, Budweiser or McDonald's walk away from Childress and Ganassi’s teams. That sponsorship loss could have huge implications for both companies.
Heads need to roll because before we know it, we’ll be rolling into February and these two teams will be even more behind the competition than they already are.
Jimmy Spencer calls it like he sees it on NASCAR Race Hub on SPEED. He retired from driving with two NASCAR Sprint Cup, 12 NASCAR Nationwide and one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory, putting him in an elite group of drivers who have logged wins in all three of NASCAR’s premier divisions. In 478 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts, Spencer amassed 28 top-five and 80 top-10 finishes. He won back-to-back NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships in 1986 and 1987 on the heels of 15 victories, becoming the first driver ever to earn consecutive titles in the series. He earned the nickname “Mr. Excitement” for his flamboyant and aggressive driving style early in his racing career.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
In keeping with the Halloween theme this week, I’d like to point out a few heads probably need to roll in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage after the horrible season their teams have had.
Case in point – Richard Childress Racing and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.
Neither team has done much of anything this season. Yes, RCR driver Kevin Harvick made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, but qualifying for it and actually being competitive are two entirely different things. Harvick currently is 11th in points with four top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in 33 starts this year. His teammates, Jeff Burton and Paul Menard, are 19th and 16th in points, respectively. Burton has two top-five and six top-10 finishes while Menard has one top-five and eight top-10 finishes.
Last season was much kinder to the RCR camp with Harvick third in the points with four wins and seeded second when the Chase began. Menard posted one win, four top-five and eight top 10s alongside Burton’s two top-five and five top-10 finishes.
Down the road at Ganassi’s camp, Jamie McMurray currently sits 20th with no top fives and only three top-10 finishes this year, while his counterpart, Juan Pablo Montoya, is 22nd with another goose egg in the top-five column and a mere two top-10 finishes. That record is unbelievable in light of the fact McMurray in 2010 won the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400 and the October race at Charlotte, tied Kasey Kahne for the series lead in poles with four and finished 14th in points.
Keep in mind RCR and EGR share an engine program by virtue of Earnhardt Childress Racing Engines. Their engines may be pretty good, but their collective results are anything but.
How in the world can a team be that strong one year and fall flat on its face the next? In 2011, McMurray earned only two top-five and four top-10 finishes, and completed the season 27th in points. Montoya didn’t fare much better with two top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 2011, on the heels of one win, three pole positions, six top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in 2010. He finished that year 17th in points. The only time Montoya has managed to garner headlines this year was when he hit the jet dryer in the Daytona 500.
This season marks EGR’s worst in years, and I simply am amazed they haven’t restructured and shuffled people around this year. Chip Ganassi let longtime executives Steve Hmiel and Tony Glover go at the conclusion of the 2011 season, but that move hasn’t paid off on the track in 2012, and their replacement hasn’t eliminated the organization’s problems. The word on the street is that Ganassi is taking his team’s engine program from ECR Engines and moving it over to Hendrick Motorsports for the 2013 season, and possibly getting his cars from Hendrick as well.
Regardless of what Ganassi pays Hendrick to do next year, I’m shocked he hasn’t made more wholesale changes within his management team this year. I’m probably more shocked that Childress hasn’t turned his shop upside down to pinpoint the problem and move people in and out. When other owners such as Rick Hendrick, Jack Roush and Roger Penske endure such horrible seasons, they’re quick to react and correct those issues. RCR a couple of weeks ago announced they’ve hired Dr. Eric Warren as the new director of competition for their organization, but it was a long time coming. Scott Miller vacated that position late last year to go to Michael Waltrip Racing, but if I was Childress, I would have moved heaven and earth to retain Miller. Look at the turnaround he’s helped produce at MWR. It’s nothing short of amazing, and the downswing in RCR’s performance this season is equally surprising.
Childress has built a hell of an organization with a lot of great people, but sometimes as a business owner, you have to give a little more to keep certain employees. Miller was one of them. Maybe RCR is over-engineering their cars (think back to their two enormous penalties – one for Clint Bowyer’s car in the Chase-opening Loudon race in 2010 and again this past August with the No. 27 car) and should instead look at completely restructuring their organization. The results prove as much.
I want to see RCR and EGR succeed because their success is good for our sport. UPS left NASCAR because they didn’t enjoy the success they expected. I don’t want to see Target, Caterpillar, Budweiser or McDonald's walk away from Childress and Ganassi’s teams. That sponsorship loss could have huge implications for both companies.
Heads need to roll because before we know it, we’ll be rolling into February and these two teams will be even more behind the competition than they already are.
Jimmy Spencer calls it like he sees it on NASCAR Race Hub on SPEED. He retired from driving with two NASCAR Sprint Cup, 12 NASCAR Nationwide and one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory, putting him in an elite group of drivers who have logged wins in all three of NASCAR’s premier divisions. In 478 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts, Spencer amassed 28 top-five and 80 top-10 finishes. He won back-to-back NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships in 1986 and 1987 on the heels of 15 victories, becoming the first driver ever to earn consecutive titles in the series. He earned the nickname “Mr. Excitement” for his flamboyant and aggressive driving style early in his racing career.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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